The invention relates generally to the field of photography, and in particular to a dual film exposure, electronic exposure camera which substantially simultaneously exposes a latent image of the subject on a conventional filmstrip and focuses a corresponding image on an electronic image sensor such as a CCD or a CMOS.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,954 issued Jan. 20, 1998 discloses a camera for exposing latent images on successive frames of a filmstrip having magnetic recording capacity, in which a control actuates a motor following exposure of each film frame to advance the filmstrip forward one frame increment, a magnetic head magnetically records user-selected information on the filmstrip adjacent the most-recently exposed one of the film frames as the filmstrip is advanced forward, an electronic image sensor forms an electronic image corresponding to the latent image on the same frame, and a memory stores the electronic image.
The cross-referenced application Ser. No. 09/492,055, entitled DUAL FILM EXPOSURE, ELECTRONIC EXPOSURE CAMERA WITH DELAY IN FILM REWIND AFTER FINAL EXPOSURE TO ALLOW FILM REWRITE, discloses a camera for exposing latent images on successive frames of a filmstrip having magnetic recording capacity, includes a memory that stores a count indicative of the film frames remaining to be exposed (including a count of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d to indicate that the final frame was exposed), a magnetic head that magnetically records user-selected information on the filmstrip adjacent each film frame, and a motor that is actuated following exposure of each film frame to advance the filmstrip forward one frame increment to permit the magnetic head to record the information on the filmstrip adjacent each exposed frame and that is actuated after the magnetic information is written on the filmstrip adjacent the final exposed frame to rewind the exposed film length rearward. An input receiving control is connected to the memory, the magnetic head, and the motor for delaying actuation of the motor to rewind the exposed film length rearward after the magnetic head has magnetically written the information on the filmstrip adjacent the final exposed frame, to give the user some time to manually input to the control that the information magnetically written adjacent the final exposed frame should be rewritten, and in the absence of the input by the time the delay has elapsed triggers actuation of the motor to rewind the exposed film length rearward.
The cross-referenced application Ser. No. 09/491,448, entitled DUAL FILM EXPOSURE, ELECTRONIC EXPOSURE CAMERA WITH MULTIPLE REWRITE ON FILM EXCEPT FOR FINAL EXPOSURE discloses a camera for exposing latent images on successive frames of a filmstrip having magnetic recording capacity, includes a memory that stores a count indicative of the film frames remaining to be exposed (including a count of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d to indicate that the final frame was exposed), a magnetic head that magnetically records user-selected information on the filmstrip adjacent each film frame, and a motor that is actuated following exposure of each film frame to advance the filmstrip to permit the magnetic head to record the information on the filmstrip adjacent each exposed frame. A plurality of information selection switches can be manually used to select the information the magnetic head will magnetically record on the filmstrip adjacent the most-recently exposed one of the film frames including the final exposed frame. An input receiving control is connected to the memory, the magnetic head, the motor, and the information selection switches to actuate the motor to advance the filmstrip to permit the magnetic head to record the information on the filmstrip adjacent the most-recently exposed one of the film frames except the final exposed frame, each time at least one of the selection switches is used to select the information, and to record the information on the filmstrip adjacent the final exposed frame, only one time at least one of the selection switches is used to select the information.
A camera for exposing latent images on successive frames of a filmstrip having magnetic recording capacity, in which a control actuates a motor following exposure of each film frame to advance the filmstrip forward one frame increment, and a magnetic head magnetically records user-selected information on the filmstrip adjacent the most-recently exposed one of the film frames as the filmstrip is advanced forward, is characterized in that:
the control first actuates the motor to advance the filmstrip rearward one frame increment when it is desired to change the existing information magnetically recorded adjacent the most-recently exposed one of the film frames to some new information, and then actuates the motor to advance the filmstrip forward one frame increment for the magnetic head to magnetically record the new information adjacent the same frame in place of the existing information.
Preferably, an electronic image sensor is connected to the control to form an electronic image corresponding to the latent image on the most-recently exposed one of the film frames, and a memory is connected to the control to store the electronic image corresponding to the latent image on the most-recently exposed one of the film frames and to store at least some of the magnetically recorded information for the same frame superimposed on the electronic image.